Told ya. Now you see why Usyk didn't give a single solitary F about fighting this guy. Dude struggles with journeymen, has spent most of his career wasting time in Germany knocking over cans, and he's even more inactive than Usyk and the other top guys. People were seriously pretending like Usyk had to have this dude on his record to enhance his legacy. L-O-F'ing-L.
**** no he wasn't. Molina was a blown up cruiserweight who got flattened in 1 by Arreola. Skills wise, I would say that Molina was slightly better than Hysa, and he also was in his physical prime, for what its worth, but he was not a level or several above Hysa. Both are/were borderline top 30 guys.
I think we all wanted to see Usyk face top contenders, and Kabayel was one of them. Plenty of people were exited for the Parker fight too, and then Wardley. We wanted Usyk to cement his legacy by defending his titles against top contenders, but instead we got rematches.
Molina actually beat like 4 or 5 top 100 guys, Adamek was still top 50 when he KOed him. Hysa never had beaten anyone in top 200. Tons of manufactured wins over guys with manufactured records.
I want to see Kabayel vs Hrgovic. Let Hrgovic beat Sachez (which he will) in Croatia as a homecoming (no money in that fight anyway), then Kabayel and Hrgovic can fight. Either guy can win. I noticed that Hrgovic was not liking Ituama's body shots, and even a one point kind of turned around/away from them. Kabayl has heavy hands to the body and will focus on that, especially since it's more clear than ever that punching Hrgovic in the face is pointless unless you get lucky enough to open up a cut. From Hrgovic's pov, use his height and reach to not let Kabayel inside, tie him up when he gets in close, try to keep it on the outside. And train cardio like crazy, Kabayel's got about 3x the gas tank that Ituama has.
And Stiverne 2 was only bad in hindsight. He was a fine heavyweight by todays standards prior to that, and was the first to take Wilder 12 which was impressive even if he fought scared and lost.
guess its a easy win to help set kabayel's profile and make him a star in germany. doubt warren is taking any risks after moses recent loss. but i must say, disappointing fight. I would have traveled to germany for it if it was a decent match up.
Horrendous match up. Kabayel has a belt now so he doesn't need to wait around anymore or take these types of match ups. He's wasting his talent.
"Cement his legacy." Yeah, the man cemented his legacy back when he blitzed through the greatest CW division of all-time after winning everything there was to win in the amateurs. He then piled a Mt. Everest more legacy on top of that by taking out all the top guys at HW when he was already in his mid-to-late 30s being on the road and giving up height/reach/weight in every fight while never even getting knocked down. Also, name me one ATG fighter from the modern era that "cemented their legacy" at the very tail end of their career when they were old and faded. The overwhelming majority of them are getting their brains bashed in and losing to scrubs that wouldn't have been fit to tie their boots back in their prime. I'm sure some people will mention Lennox because he fought Vitali in his last fight. Except Lennox got forced into that fight when his scrub opponent got an injury. And Lennox would be considered an ATG whether he fought Vitali or not. That fight was essentially meaningless to his legacy. In fact, some people (not me) knock him for not giving Vitali a rematch and retiring. Legacies are cemented long before you reach your final couple of fights.
Nothing you have said is wrong, and yet, he is easily the best legacy option out there. Already beaten DuboisX2 Already beaten Gassiev Already beaten FuryX2 Already beaten JoshuaX2 Hrgovic beaten by Dubois Wardley defeated by Dubois Parker beaten by Wardely Itauma exposed by Hrgovic Wilder--well, we are getting that, and about half the boxing world doesn't like the fight. Kabayel would be the best, although I want Usyk to retire anyway.